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REVEALED: Austria’s most popular baby names

Emilia and Paul have been revealed as the most popular names for newborns in Austria. Here are the top 10 most popular names.

Published: 29 August 2024 13:18 CEST

REVEALED: Austria’s most popular baby names

(Photo by Cottonbro /Pexels)

It’s that time of the year again when Statistics Austria releases the country’s most popular names for newborn babies in 2023, with Emilia (for girls) and Paul (for boys) revealed as the winners.

Out of 37,596 girls and 40,009 boys born that year, Emilia was chosen 638 times for girls, and Paul was selected 687 times for boys, each representing 1.7 percent of the total names given, according to an analysis by Statistics Austria.

“Emilia, which ranked second in 2022, has become the most popular name for girls for the first time in 2023, while the previous year’s winner, Emma, dropped to third place. Paul reclaimed the top spot among boys, as he did in 2021 and 2018. Maximilian, the most popular boys’ name in 2022, fell to fourth place. Anna has been a top ten favourite since 1991 and consistently ranked in the top three from 1996 to 2021,” said Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria.

READ ALSO: Four things you should know if you’re going to give birth in Austria

Emilia first entered the top ten list of girls’ names in 2013 and has consistently placed in the top three since 2019. Paul, who rose two places compared to the previous year, has been in the top ten boys’ names since 2012, claiming the number one spot in 2018 and 2021, and second place in 2017 and 2019.

Statistics Austria compiles the results by analysing registered baby names in their original form, without special characters.

Here’s the full top 10 list of the most popular baby names for girls and boys in Austria in 2021.

Girls

1 Emilia
2 Marie
3 Emma
4 Anna
5 Mia
6 Sophia
7 Valentina
8 Lena
9 Lea
10 Laura

Boys

1 Paul
2 Jakob
3 Elias
4 Maximilian
5 Felix
6 Noah
7 Leon
8 David
9 Tobias
10 Jonas

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How do Austria's political parties want to address the gender pay gap?

The average gender pay gap in the European Union is 12.7 percent. In Austria, the gap is considerably higher; in fact, the country has one of the highest gender pay gaps in the Union, with women earning 18.4 percent (2024) less than men.

The women’s spokeswomen of the parliamentary parties in Austria were recently asked by Der Standard to outline their plans for closing the pay gap and preventing old-age poverty among women.

Here is what the spokeswomen from the different parties said.

The People’s Party wants to implement more flexible work hours

Elisabeth Pfurtscheller from the People’s Party (ÖVP) says there are two main areas to focus on for improving women’s financial situation: economic and social.

She believes in making it easier for people to balance family and work by improving childcare and giving parents more choices.

She would also like to implement more flexible work hours, extended parental leave options for fathers, and a breakdown of traditional gender roles.

To close the wage gap, “a mix of measures and a coordinated approach” is needed, she says. For example, she believes that income transparency is necessary, which is planned to be implemented by an EU directive by 2026.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about parental leave in Austria

Pfurtscheller also points out that Austria is close to meeting the EU’s goal of more women in management, but further action is needed at the top levels of companies to improve it further. She finds it confusing that businesses resist these changes since she says it is known that diverse teams perform better.

The People’s Party also supports automatic pension splitting between partners, which Pfurtscheller says can prevent women from falling into poverty in old age.

The Social Democratic Party wants “half-half” in all areas

Eva-Maria Holzleitner from the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) believes that mandatory wage transparency is crucial for improving women’s economic situation and that it would have an immediate impact.

She points out that there is an unequal distribution of care work in Austria and that her party wants to see a “half-and-half” approach in all areas of life, from childcare to household responsibilities to the care of relatives.

Parental leave periods should be fairly divided between both parents. “When it becomes natural for both fathers and mothers to share childcare equally, we break down prejudices that still lead to unequal pay and unequal opportunities in careers,” she says.

READ ALSO: How could Austria make paternity leave more attractive for fathers?

Parental leave should also be better credited towards pensions. “Women should get their own good pension—regardless of their partner’s income,” she says. The party therefore rejects mandatory pension splitting, arguing that it would not improve women’s old-age poverty but would instead encourage women to stay at home.

In Austria, women spend significantly more time at home with their children comparing to the men. Photo by Katie Emslie on Unsplash

The Freedom Party wants equal opportunities without enforcing equal outcomes

Rosa Ecker from far-right The Freedom Party (FPÖ) believes in equal opportunities without enforcing equal outcomes.

She says the main issue with gender inequality is the lack of financial and social recognition for child care and caregiving.

Ecker argues that wages in low-paying jobs and apprenticeships need to be increased and that the role of a mother, along with parental and caregiving periods, should be more financially valued.

She is against mandatory pension splitting, as she says it could shift disadvantages to the other gender group instead of solving them. Instead, she suggests improving recognition and support of caregiving time to prevent pension gaps.

READ ALSO: Austria announces national election date with far right ahead in polls

The Green Party wants to upgrade sectors with a high proportion of women

Meri Disoski from the Green Party (Die Grünen) states that women continue to be responsible for the majority of unpaid household, caregiving, and parenting work, which negatively impacts their financial situation both during their careers and in retirement.

She says that 79 percent of Austria’s part-time workers are women, who are unequally affected by lower wages in part-time jobs compared to men.

Disoski describes the impact of the pay gap on women as “dramatic” and would like it to be addressed through better wage transparency rules.

The Green Party supports improving the value of professions with high female representation, modernising parental leave policies to ensure the fair distribution of unpaid caregiving work, and providing a legal right to childcare from the child’s first year.

Disoski also suggests that pension splitting could be a useful measure.

The Neos Party wants to reassess work

Henrike Brandstötter, the party’s spokeswoman, points out that more than half of Austria’s working women have part-time jobs.

Brandstötter wants to create equal job opportunities for women by removing barriers in labour, tax, and family laws that make full-time work less appealing for women.

She believes in recognising and fairly compensating unpaid caregiving work and challenging traditional gender roles and job divisions.

To improve women’s economic situation, she also wants to Increase the availability of childcare facilities and ensure there’s a legal right to a childcare place starting from a child’s first year.

READ ALSO: Four reasons Austria is great for women and four reasons why it isn’t

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